Twin Moons Disappear Into Midnight Depths
by FoxAnime
Summary: SasuHina. The title refers to their eyes. Hinata is finally engaged to Naruto, and she's happy, or so she thinks. She has a foreboding feeling when night falls, and for some reason, Hinata can only find safety in the full moon, and dread in the new moon.
1. Chapter 1

1She was running, running through the forest, the light of the full moon illuminating in astonishing detail. Something was stalking her, as if she were prey, and she sensed it nearing even as she fled. The white silk gown she was wearing billowed out around her as she ran, and when she tripped and fell onto the dirt ground, it did not dirty, but stayed as pearly as the moon that so complimented her eyes.

As she stood, she looked to the moon, and what she saw, she knew not the meaning of. The full moon, the thing that so beautified the night, was behaving strangely. Even as she watched, it waned until it was nothing more than a mere crescent, and as that sliver of silver light disappeared, everything was plunged into an impenetrable darkness. She searched the broad expanse above her, but there were no more stars, nothing but an empty hole in the sky that she knew to be the new moon, the one time of the month that for some reason she feared so much.

A noise startled her, and as she looked wildly around her, her gaze fell on a pair of eyes that were even blacker than the surrounding darkness. She blinked, a mere half a second, and the eyes were gone. She looked once more for them, and then a feeling came over her. Slowly, she looked down at her gown. What was once silk as white and clear as the light of the full moon had turned to a velvet that was as black a color as the new moon that hung in the sky above her.

She clutched at the folds of this new and strange dress, trying to puzzle it's sudden transformation into this dark garment, when a firm arm slipped itself around her waist and pulled her into a hardened body behind her while another hand grasped her hair. She felt it drawn to his face, heard him inhale the scent of it, and heard him exhale in desire.

She fought him, struggled to escape his hold upon her, and finally managed to twist out of his arms, whirling around to face her would-be captor. All she saw were those midnight eyes before Hinata awoke.

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Hinata sat up in the bed, gasping for breath, covered in a cold sweat. These nightmares had been going on for months, all the same dream, almost always ending up with Hinata waking up screaming. Tonight, it seemed, wasn't one of those nights. She got up, trying not to shake the bed so she wouldn't disturb the sleeping form next to her, and went over to the window seat that was nearest to her side of the bed.

She'd insisted, when she'd moved in with him, that she sleep on that side of the bed so she could be close to the window. She'd said that she wanted to be able to have an easier time of getting to the window seat if she couldn't sleep. He'd thought it ridiculous until she had told him that if an intruder came in to the room, he would be able to defend them both faster if he was closest to the door, so he acquiesced to her request with a broad smile and a kiss on the forehead.

_The moon is so beautiful tonight,_ she thought, standing in front of the open window, gazing up at the bright full moon that had just risen. _He said that my eyes matched it so perfectly, and he said they looked like the most valuable pearls you could ever get._ A small smile crept across her face. _He's so loving. I'm so lucky I have him._ She stood in that pale luminescence, her alabaster skin glowing, the gossamer white nightgown that she wore sparkling. She'd never considered herself pretty or even close to cute, but Naruto had told her more than once that in the light of the moon, she looked like the most beautiful angel.

She heard him stir behind her, but kept her eyes upon the moon. However, she lowered her eyes to watch his tan hands encircle her waist and he pulled her to him, she placed her own hands on his, keeping them there. He kissed her neck, tenderly, and she closed her eyes to lose herself in his love. They stood there a moment, she and Naruto, in the moonlight streaming through the window. Then he whispered something in her ear.

"Another nightmare, wasn't it?" She didn't consider lying to him, not now, before, or ever in the future. All she gave was a small nod, and as Naruto felt the movement, he gave a soft sigh and hugged her tighter to him. "Let's go back to bed. I'll hold you." Again, nothing more than a nod, and with her small hand clasped in his, he led her back to the bed.

They lay there for a time, in each other's arms, and eventually Naruto fell asleep. She looked at his face, the slight lines of worry smoothed in sleep, his breathing even and peaceful. She raised her left hand to the light, looking at the golden circlet with the intricate filagree of a leafed vine spiraling around it glinting on her ring finger.

Everyone had said they would make the perfect couple when they had announced the engagement, and soon after they had moved in together. But barely after a week of blissful happiness for both, Hinata began having the dreams, the nightmares that visited her every night, that made her so dread the time when the sun set. Her only comfort was the moon, the thing people said they thought of when they looked of her.

She looked at the moon, and then once more at the engagement ring, before setting her hand down back on the white sheets. She stared at the ceiling, thinking, trying to delay the inevitable drowsiness that was stealing over her.

_I'm finally engaged to Naruto, our wedding is coming in a few months, but it's all being ruined by me, by a few dreams that I can't seem to take. What's wrong with me? I love Naruto and I want to be with him, but there's this foreboding feeling I keep getting, like something else wants to prevent this, someone like a predator, and I'm the prey, and he wants me for himself._

She shook her head. _That was silly, what am I thinking? Nobody wanted to date me before Naruto and I'm fortunate to even have him. I'm getting paranoid. I'm glad I haven't told anyone about this feeling, but what am I going to do about it? Why won't it go away?_

All these questions swirled around in her head, as slowly, but surely, her eyes drifted closed, and Hinata was happy to find as she drifted off, that the nightmare would not come back, not tonight, and she fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

1Hinata woke once more, having enjoyed a few hours of untroubled sleep. It was almost dawn, the faintest hint of silver gray tinging the far off horizon. Careful to not disturb Naruto, she slipped silently out of her bed and approached the window once again, looking at it as the simple seat it was instead of the refuge she had taken it for last night. Instead of standing in front of it, like she had the night before, she sat upon the white flowered cushion, resting her head upon her arms as she gazed out on the sleeping village of Konoha.

Looking over the trees towards the east, she felt a strange dual feeling in the approach of the dawn. Part of her welcomed the coming warmth, the inevitable arrival of the blaze of light that would greet her and announce the birth of a new day.

But a strong, unfamiliar feeling rose up in her breast, rivaling that of her happiness at the sun. It cursed the sun and all it stood for, seemed to want to banish to and leave the realm of time to eternal night. This feeling was so powerful, so deep, that it knocked the breath out of Hinata's chest and she sat there gasping for breath. She put her hands to her throat, trying to massage it to help air through, but nothing would help, so she sat there, clutching at her neck, choking on the emotion that swelled within her, refusing to let her draw breath.

A curious darkness was overtaking Hinata's vision as she sat there, suffocating, watching the horizon, the black emotion within her roiling with the power that was killing her. Tunnel vision seemed to overtake her sight, focusing her view on the rising sun. _Odd,_ she thought, _I always loved the sun, and now a hatred of it that I've never felt before is killing me...I will never see Naruto again. I want to see him one more time._

She slowly turned her head in the direction of the bed, away from the window, a strangled noise all she could manage in the way of a goodbye. She closed her eyes, still latched onto her throat. _I hope I die quickly. I wonder, who will I see if I go to heaven?_

"Hinata!" was all she heard in reply to her questions, and she felt a pair of hands scrabbling over the skin at her neck, tearing away her delicate hands. With a sudden rush of emptiness, the churning feeling of hatred left her at the touch of those hands, hands that appeared to be glowing with a golden light.

_It's an angel. He comes to guide me. I guess I am going to heaven._ Hinata thought this, as well as other things, as she blacked out.

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Hinata felt her lungs expanding and contracting. She felt a pair of lips upon her own, and, even as she silently waited for it, yes, with every slight movement of the lips, air rushed into her lungs. Then, as her consciousness slowly came back to her, she sat up with a gasp, struggling to breathe so fast that she nearly choked once more.

"Oh thank god! Thank god you're alive!" she heard a moan, and before she could even guess who it was, a pair of arms encircled her and she was drawn into a tight embrace. She was stiff at first, still confused, but slowly, realizing who it was, she clutched his at his chest. She reached up and cradled his face in her hands, his cerulean eyes as full of crystalline tears as her pearly ones were.

In a sudden spur bravery, Hinata forced his head towards hers, Naruto giving way in surprise, and she kissed him with the passion of one who'll never take anything for granted again. He kissed her back with just as much warmth, and eventually, they broke apart, Hinata's face falling, still breathing hard from the near loss in her the battle with suffocation. She stared hard at the sheets she was sitting on, taking the corner of one and twisting it in embarrassment.

_He carried me to the bed._ She felt a hand under her chin, tilting her head up, and once again she had to face those blue eyes, those eyes now full of grief and worry that didn't belong there. She turned her face away in shame, tears rolling down her cheeks. She was shaking. "I'm so sorry, Naruto," she sobbed, desperately trying to wipe away the tears that refused to stop falling, "I couldn't do anything. I don't know how it happened. All I know was that I was choking, and I tried to stop it, and I..."

She stopped. A shaking finger had placed itself upon her lips, and as she turned towards him, saw that he was smiling. She frowned in confusion, but that only made Naruto's smile widen, however slightly. He patted his lap, and hesitantly, Hinata climbed into it, feeling herself fit into that hollow space so snugly, it felt as if that spot was meant just for her. Once more encircling her with his arms, he pulled her close, kissing her forehead before he spoke.

"The only thing that I need to know, is that you're alive," he whispered into her hair as he kissed it. Hinata drew a shuddering breath, but it came out smoothly as Naruto kissed her tears away. Gradually, the sun made its dazzling appearance in silence, leaving the horizon behind as it soared towards Konoha.

Seeming to take advice from the celestial being, they dressed in a quiet that was only disturbed when they ran to each other, holding each other as if they were afraid that the other would disappear, only reluctantly breaking apart to do some trivial thing that arose. Finally, they were ready, ready to go make plans for the day, the upcoming months until the wedding, and the parties that precede that happy time.

They each took a deep breath, together, hugging each other tightly. Naruto winked at her, saying in a mock tone of anxiety that Hinata knew was real even though he was pretending to play with her, "So, you ready to go deal with all of our friends and their suggestions?" Hinata cocked her eyebrows, and in just as mocking a tone, answered back softly, "Only if you are ready." They kissed once more.

The morning came, and with the blessed sun casting its rays onto Hinata's pale face, she walked into the day, hand in hand with her beloved.


	3. Chapter 3

1"You should have it all white with light blue decorum because you need to have some color that matches yours and Naruto's eyes," said Sakura loudly, looking at Ino out of the corner of her eye as she talked to Hinata in the fitting room. "Well, I think that since a wedding should be all about the bride, so I say white with silver decor so that it matches Hinata shines out!" Ino yelled across the room, making the floor to ceiling mirrors quiver with the volume of her voice.

"If you don't mind you guys, I'd like to pick the colors myself," Hinata whispered, not looking at either of them, but they did not hear her over their own arguing. Hinata, almost regretting choosing them as bridesmaids, turned slowly and carefully on the stand she was perched on back towards the mirror behind her, looking at herself with uncertain eyes.

Her face glowed a dusty pink with frustration as she watched the girls behind her in the reflection of the mirror. She looked away in anger, but when she looked back, another person had popped up alongside her and she almost jumped out of the beautiful dress she wore as the face in the mirror laughed. Hinata whirled around, almost undoing the careful pinning that had been done already and coaxing an almost outraged squeak from the seamstress.

"Tenten!" Hinata was overjoyed to see her maid of honor. Hinata had gone to Tenten and Neji's wedding only a few short months before, and only a few weeks ago, they had announced that they were going to have a baby. A few days afterward, Hinata and Naruto had announced their engagement, and nobody else had entered her mind when asked who she wanted as maid of honor.

Sakura and Ino had been outraged that neither of them had been asked to be anything more than just bridesmaids, so they had teamed up on her when she had been walking home from the grocery store one evening and refused to let her leave until she chose one of them as maid of honor. Well, Hinata hadn't known what to do. She had been trapped, unable to defend herself against the onslaught of insults they were throwing at her. As she cringed against a wall, she had silently wished somebody would come and save her.

It had been the night of the new moon, so the only light had been a street lamp a few yards away. It had been enough to make out of the shapes and general features of Ino and Sakura, but when she had wished that silent desperate wish, there was a slight breeze as almost as if by command, a mysterious figure had appeared before her, shielding her from her attackers.

Ino and Sakura, terrified by their new and not weak foe, fled into the night. Hinata stayed up against the wall, this time in fear of this new person. Who was he? Why did he come? What did he want? She had no time to think, no time to grab those few items she had needed at the store and run, for as almost as soon as she thought those thoughts, the man was in directly in front of her, inches from her face.

Hinata drew in a deep breath to scream, but with a quickly placed hand and a finger across the mask he wore where his lips would be, he drew down the cloak to reveal his face. There had something familiar about those features, but nothing that Hinata could put her finger on. She had no more time to think anything else as the stranger placed his hands on either side of her face and drew it towards him.

_What is he doing?! Is this his what he wants in return for saving me?! He must not know that I'm engaged!_ She held up her left hand, showing him the ring, whispering, "I'm engaged." All he did was smile maliciously, telling her, "Close your eyes." Fearful, she had. His lips brushed both her eyelids lightly, then her forehead, and he was gone.

She had opened her eyes to find the alley deserted once more, and, terrified, grabbed her purchases and ran to the apartment that she and Naruto shared, spending the rest of the evening in his arms. It was that night that the nightmares had begun.

"Oh, Tenten! They won't stop fighting!" Hinata said, gesturing helplessly at the arguing pair. Tenten looked once at the them and once at Hinata who looked ready to start crying before swelling with motherly anger. She rammed them against the only wall without mirrors and spoke so softly that Hinata could only look on in shock as she wondered what Tenten was saying. "Nobody gives a damn what you think the color scheme should be for Hi-na-ta's wedding," she hissed menacingly into their ears, emphasizing Hinata's name to get the point across, "save the arguments for your own wedding plans, and because you thrive so well on conflict you can't even tell that our bride is close to a breakdown because of your stupidity!"

With frightened looks at Hinata, Sakura and Ino each gave a gulp before nodding. Tenten, satisfied, released their clothes and turned back to a nervous Hinata. " 'Ta, you look so beautiful in that dress," she gushed, coming to stand next to Hinata in her reflection and gently stroking the delicate fabric. Hinata blushed, slightly embarrassed, and turning slightly to admire the white gown. "You think so?" she asked shyly, looking at herself at different angles.

"Of course you do," said Ino nervously, glancing at Tenten before she spoke again, "why wouldn't you, seeing as how you're one of the prettiest girls in the village?" One more glance at Tenten, a nod of approval from her, and Ino breathed easier. "Yes, you made the right choice when it came to the dress," interjected Sakura, her voice trembling slightly, "and I'm sure that the color scheme YOU choose will look match it perfectly."

Hinata, smiling slightly, looked at the mirror before her. Tenten, her maid of honor, stood to her right, her strength, and Ino and Sakura to her left, her 'advisors'. She thought she couldn't be happier, until the mirror shattered before her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

1Shards flew everywhere. Hinata had remained on the pillowed pedestal, looking away from the shattering mirror while covering her face with her arms. Ino and Sakura had dived away while Tenten had managed to snatch the seamstress out from under a few enormous pieces that would've impaled her and killed her in an instant.

As Hinata slowly lowered her arms, she looked around. Tenten was quietly calming the distraught seamstress. Sakura was administering to Ino, who had a bad cut on her head. She could see that all of them had a light coating of silvery dust from the broken mirror covering them. Everyone had cuts, which seemed to bleed with a vengeance as she watched them.

Then she looked down at herself. She, the one with the exposed head, shoulders, and arms. She, the one who had been closest to the three mirrors. Not a speck of dust had graced her or her dress. The angry lines of crimson that covered her friends had not dared to appear on her pale skin. She turned back towards where the mirror had once been, and saw an empty, hollow blackness.

Hinata stepped down from the pedestal, shock overwhelming her. She stumbled to her knees, and with a distant thought she realized that the shards on the ground in the front of the pedestal had bitten through her dress to drive themselves deep into her skin. Blindly, she reached down in front of her, and when she felt the sharp edges of glass slice the palms of her hands, she grabbed hold, ignoring the tiny alarm bells going off in her head. She grasped as much broken glass as she could before looking down.

Slowly, she looked at those shards, imaging them to be the pieces of her broken dreams. _Nothing has gone right in my engagement to Naruto. Am I doing something wrong? Am I just not meant to be with him? Is this a sign?_ She let each piece fall, and she noticed as each one did, something red was falling along with it. She looked at her hands more closely, finding the cuts that she hadn't even felt when she had picked up the fragments of mirror. Having squeezed the glass into her palms, the cuts were especially deep, and as she gazed at them, they oozed scarlet tears.

Looking past her hands to her knees, Hinata blinked her eyes. What was wrong? Were her eyes going bad? Her dress was supposed to be white, snow white, not black. Then why was she wearing this one? Where was her wedding dress? Why was she wearing this dead color gown? Grasping at it with bloody hands, she gathered the fabric and slowly stood up, turning to face the people in the room she had neglected to notice until now.

Tenten had finally managed to sooth the distressed seamstress and assure her that the entire thing was an accident and would never happen again, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Ino, holding a scrap of her skirt to her head, stanching the blood that was flowing from it. Tenten noticed that Sakura was staring at something behind Tenten, and her suspicions of something wrong were confirmed when Ino silently directed her with a shaking finger to look over her shoulder.

As Tenten looked around, her eyes grew wide at the sight that presented itself. Standing in front of the black, empty wall where the mirrors had once hung, was Hinata. She stood, barefoot, in the midst of the fragments of glass. Her hands she held out in front of her, blood dripping from each one, her hands and feet leaving a trail of crimson as she took a step towards the stunned trio. Her white dress was covered in bloody handprints, and as Hinata's eyes bored into Tenten's eyes, a dead look radiated from Hinata's pale orbs.

Hinata's mouth slowly opened, and as she spoke, the moment seemed to be frozen with the tension. "Tenten, where's my wedding dress? Why am I wearing this black one? And what's wrong with my hands? Why won't they stop crying?" She swayed from one side to the other, and as the whole room watched in what felt like slow motion, she fainted, falling to one side onto the one place where the broken glass was thickest. Before anyone could do anything, she had fallen, landing on the upturned edges, and the left side of her body, including her beautiful wedding dress, was cut to ribbons before their eyes, scarlet spreading eerily from the white figure laying in the black glass.


	5. Chapter 5

1Hinata sat naked and shivering in the chair, her shoulders slumped, as Tsunade carefully bandaged her face. The sudden, cold sting of alcohol on a particularly deep cut on her forehead forced a gasp to escape her lips and she raised her arm to knock the offending cotton ball away, but the pain that ripped through her from moving her left arm made her scream in pain and tears to start coursing down her cheeks, invading the deep cuts that lined the left side of her face and making the throbbing of the open wounds hurt more.

Tsunade carefully pressed a towel to Hinata's face, careful to wipe away the tears and not start anymore bleeding. She heard a commotion outside and a few distinct words through the closed and locked door, "...killing her...needs me...my fiancee..."

She carefully dabbed some more of the alcohol on Hinata's face, and chose her words carefully as she spoke. "You're very lucky that I was nearby when Ino found me and told me what happened. Walking into my office and slipping on that pool of blood was frightening enough until I saw you. Lying in Tenten's arms, half of your body in shreds, bleeding profusely from numerous cuts. If not for Sakura's quick and rudimentary healing skills, you would probably be dead now."

Hinata sniffed, wincing slightly from the alcohol but careful not to make the same mistake of moving anything, shifted her gaze to the wedding dress hanging in the corner. The handprints were still there, but the ones on the left side were now indistinguishable in the mess of blood that had soaked Hinata's side when she had fallen on the glass. Tsunade followed Hinata's eyes until she figured out what Hinata was staring at. "It was a beautiful dress. I'm sure your seamstress can replicate it exactly if you want her to. I would say, though, that you should burn this one. No sense in throwing it away. The blood would attract too much attent..."

"No."

Tsunade turned back to Hinata in amazement. Hinata kept her gaze on the dress, but Tsunade could see that Hinata wasn't really seeing the dress. She was now thinking of something else. "I'll just keep it, somewhere where nobody else will find it."

Tsunade didn't understand, but she nodded silently in assent before continuing to bandage Hinata's face. There was silence before a few minutes before Hinata spoke. "How are the others? How's Tenten?" Tsunade finished putting a protective patch over Hinata's left eye before she said anything. "Ino's head wound was deep, but we were able to bandage it without any major trouble. The others had only minor cuts and a few bruises from landing weird, but nothing else." Hinata opened her mouth once more, but Tsunade smiled and beat her to the punch. "Tenten and her baby are fine. Neither the glass or the impact of Tenten falling hurt them at all. She's safe."

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief and Tsunade finished the last of her bandaging. Tsunade stood, holding the many bloody towels and cotton balls and the bottle of alcohol, and told Hinata that she could get dressed in the soft gown laid out for her on the bed nearby. As Tsunade started to put away the different things she'd needed, tweezers for the glass, a few mild drugs for the pain, and a couple of other things, she heard a strangled sob and she turned in amazement back to Hinata, who hadn't moved from the chair. Hinata held her face in her hands, tenderly on the left side, and was weeping with what seemed like the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Tsunade dropped to her knees in front of Hinata, carefully prizing her hands from her face. Hinata wouldn't look at Tsunade, but in between Hinata's cries, Tsunade heard her say things like, "...all my fault...I can't do this...I'm gonna die...It's hopeless..." Tsunade cupped the right side of Hinata's face, whispering, "It will be all right, Hinata. Those mirrors were hung badly, even the store admits it. And believe me, Naruto gave the manager a good talking to and I think I will too because today wasn't supposed to be this way, and you know it and I know it."

"But I can't do this," Hinata interrupted, careful not to rip any stitches or break any bandages as she shook her head slowly from side to side, "I can't marry Naruto. Everything's gone wrong. We can't sleep at night because I have nightmares that almost always end up with me waking up screaming. I almost died this morning choking on something that I can't describe as anything but hatred that wasn't mine. And now this. I can't do this, Tsunade, I can't."

Tsunade's eyebrows contracted in concern. The couple had come to her and told her that Hinata had been having dreams, but this was beyond what they'd told her then. And they hadn't reported this strange near-death experience that had happened that morning? Tsunade could see that Hinata was fractured to the point of breaking, so she made no criticism for the lack of detail in their reports of the strange happenings and said, "Hinata, you're tired, in shock, and you need a rest. Your fiancee is about ready to break down the door and rip me limb from limb for all the screams and crying he keeps hearing through the cracks. He's in love with you, and I know you're in love with him. So, I promise I will make your dream wedding happen, and if I have to cleanse this entire village of the monsters and demons that you see, not counting Naruto of course, I will."

Hinata smiled for the first time since the incident that morning and carefully wiped away the tears on the right side of her face. "Thank you, Tsunade," she whispered gratefully. "Well," Tsunade said, her composure returning to normal, "Hinata, I need you to get that gown on. Those bandages need to stay in place and I would rather not have a situation in your hospital room when you and your fiancee are alone in here." Hinata blushed a deep scarlet, but smiled when Tsunade winked at her, "I'm going to have to replace that eyepatch. It's soaked with your tears now, and if I leave it there, it might lead to infection in the surrounding cuts."

Hinata stood up, careful not to stretch any of her bandage beyond their endurance. She grabbed the gown and slipped into the bathroom, now self-conscious in the presence of the hokage. She looked around and nearly shrieked when she saw the nearby mirror. But she assured herself that nothing under the hokage's jurisdiction would ever be hung improperly, so she took a few deep breaths before looking into the mirror. She looked at her face, the left side completely swathed in bandages. With her one good eye, she moved down the side of her body.

Her shoulder, her torso, down to her leg, everything on the left side of her body was covered in an impenetrable cover of white cloth. She ran her hand down the side of her damaged arm before slowly pulling the gown over her head with her good arm. She walked out of the bathroom and climbed into the bed, Tsunade coming over with the new eyepatch and a glass of hot water. After she reapplied the patch, she sprinkled a few herbs into the water, swirling the contents around until the drink had taken on an amber color.

"This is a tea that will send you into a deep and dreamless sleep," she said, glancing over at Hinata, "and yes, it is dreamless. Believe me. I've taken it myself and you know I don't lie." Hinata's dusty pink face betrayed her obvious doubts about the potion, but she nodded her head and took the glass from Tsunade's outstretched hand. "I'll let in Naruto now before he destroys half this hospital in an attempt to get to you."

Hinata sat in the bed, not quite ready to consume the draft before seeing Naruto. She saw Tsunade unlock the door and step outside, and she heard her admonishing the jounin that had been guarding the door. What she was saying made Hinata almost burst out laughing, and she had to cover her mouth and look away from the open door.

"You didn't have to bash him over the head, you know," Tsunade was saying to one of them as she bent over Naruto's unconscious form. "It was all we could think of to keep him out," one replied, nudging Naruto's side with his foot, "he was going nuts out here, hearing all that screaming and crying." "Well, I guess you did all that you could," Tsunade sighed, placing her hands on Naruto's chest as she spoke to them, "you can go now. There's no need to guard the door anymore."

As they walked away, Naruto's eyes fluttered open, and when he realized the person bent over him was Tsunade, he grabbed the front of her robes and jerked her face towards his in a menacing fashion. "If you've done anything to hurt Hinata, I swear, I will kill you!" he hissed, dead serious. Tsunade's eyes widened with shock at the furious and unexpected outburst, but then she smiled and nodded her head through the open door towards Hinata. "I honestly can't speak for her myself, but why don't you ask her yourself whether she's okay or not." All the worry and ferocity went out of Naruto's face as he whirled around to face Hinata, who still sat in the bed, cradling the small glass of tea in her hands.

Naruto let go of Tsunade as he rushed over to her. He fell to his knees at her bedside, and was about to grab her hand, when a restraining arm stopped him. "That's her left side, you know," whispered Tsunade, guiding him to the other side of the bed, "you wouldn't want to prolong her recovery anymore that you have to." Naruto gulped, nodding, as he carefully grasped her right hand. "And just because the other side of me isn't well, doesn't mean you can't hold this side as tightly," Hinata sighed, grateful to feel once more the comforting warmth and strength of her fiancee beside her. Tsunade stepped out to give them some privacy, but not before saying, "Don't forget to drink that!" before slipping out.

"You should drink that you know," Naruto said, his face once more filled with worry, "I want you to get better." Hinata nodded in assent, and she slowly drank the mixture, careful to drink all of it. She already felt the effects of the potion taking affect before she had finished drinking it, the glass slipping from nerveless fingers, prevented from shattering on the floor only by Naruto's quick reflexes. He placed the glass on the nearby side table as Hinata fell back onto the pillows, her muscles no longer having the strength enough to hold her up. As her eyes began to close, she felt Naruto's lips on hers, and with all the strength she could muster, she kissed him back, before fading into the depths of promised dreamless sleep.

And so she slumbered, her beloved by her side with the sunlight shining through the window full upon her face, the gentle features normally creased in fear and doubt soothed into peace by the golden rays softly caressing her face.


	6. Chapter 6

1A few days of bed rest later, Hinata was downstairs, going through therapy for her injured leg. When she'd fallen on the glass, it had severed a few muscle connections, making her lose control of her leg until they grew back. She had to take the therapy because the leg needed to 'relearn' how to walk. It was painful and strenuous, but with Naruto at her side every step of the way, how could she not succeed?

She was especially happy, and why not? True to Tsunade's word, she had enjoyed a day and a half of dreamless sleep. And the next night, she had a dream, but it wasn't the one she dreaded so. It was one that she'd had a couple times before she'd gotten engaged, and it involved her putting Ino and Sakura, transformed into lobster, into a boiling pot. She'd actually woken up laughing, startling Naruto awake from his vigil at her bedside, holding her hand, his head leaning against her good leg. When she told him about what was so funny in between giggles, he'd started laughing along with her, and when Tsunade had passed by Hinata's room and she looked in the window, her face softened and a smile crept across her face when she saw the couple, happy for the first time in weeks.

All the time that Hinata was in the hospital, all the wedding plan meetings and important choices had to move to her room. In the course of her stay, she'd chosen her color scheme (silver and cream), had chosen to get a custom wedding dress (she said she hadn't liked the original one as much as the one that she had in mind), she'd picked the color for her bridesmaid's dresses (champagne), and right after therapy that day, she and Naruto were supposed to sample a few dishes for the reception after the wedding, including choosing their perfect wedding cake.

"Good, good, you're making progress," Sakura commented, all professional. She worked at the hospital occasionally, helping with anything that needed to be done, but she was mainly the head physical therapist. When Tsunade had asked the small group of therapists before they had opened up who would like to work with Hinata, she was the first to volunteer. Sakura blamed herself partly for what had happened to Hinata, so she gave Hinata the utmost attention.

For whatever reasons Sakura had decided to help Hinata for, she'd unwittingly been an immense support to Hinata, helping her whenever was needed, even coming to her room as her personal nurse, which made Hinata blush whenever she had to ask for something. But thanks to Sakura, she'd gained a lot more confidence, and with Hinata's upped self-esteem, even Naruto was able to relax, to a point anyway. Marriages are SO stressful.

"Okay, if you can walk to the elevator over there, we'll be done for today," Sakura said, gesturing towards the metal doors. Hinata, with a little help from Sakura or Naruto when she needed it, made it to the doors, and with a sigh of satisfaction, she sat down in the wheelchair that Sakura had waiting for her there. Thanking Sakura, she and Naruto made their way into the elevator, pushing the button for her floor.

"You were so awesome today, you know that right," Naruto purred, nuzzling her cheek. She giggled, and before he could dodge her, she pecked him on the nose. With a teasing growl, he nipped her ear. Hinata shoved his face away, smiling and trying not to laugh while she said, "Ouch! That hurt!" Almost as if she'd pushed a button, Naruto's face went instantly sorrowful and contrite.

Scared that she had actually hurt his feelings, she'd cradled his face in her hands, now close to tears herself, "Oh, Naruto! I didn't mean to hurt you! I was just playing around! I mean..." She stopped. Naruto's eyes were full of laughter and she could tell he was trying to hide a grin. She pushed his face away, angry. "Naruto! I can't believe you did that! How could you! I wanted to cry," and to her dismay, tears started to trace delicate patterns down her face.

Still chuckling, he kissed away her tears and made her look him in the eye. "Honestly, Hinata, I didn't mean to make you cry. Forgive me?" She looked at him for a while, then said, "Kiss me." He needed no second bidding. Their lips connected and they became oblivious to the world. Before they knew it, the elevator had reached the right floor, the doors sliding open before they'd had a chance to even get a good kiss in.

"Well, well," said a voice, making them jump, "having fun?"

"Tenten!" Hinata breathed, not able to find words to describe the joy she felt at seeing her friend. "Why haven't you come to visit me all this time?" Tenten flushed a rose hue as she rolled her eyes as she said one word, "Neji." Hinata nodded, understanding totally, now that she had a fiancee and soon-to-be husband. They can be a bit overprotective.

As Naruto wheeled Hinata back to her room, Tenten explained why she hadn't been able to get to the hospital. "Well, Tsunade checked me out and said I was fine except for a cut or two, and I was just going to go home and pass them off as scissor cuts from helping with your dress. But Tsunade called ahead of me, so when I got home, he knew part of the story, so I had to explain the rest to him, which drove him berserk. So, of course, he kept me home for a few days, which is why I couldn't come visit you. But when he said he was going to keep me home for a full two weeks, I put my foot down and I told him, 'Neji, I love you, and I know you love me, but if I don't go visit Hinata, she'll think I've abandoned her because I'm scared or something.' So now, here I am."

Glad that her friend had finally been able to visit her, she started talking about miscellaneous wedding matters while Naruto was content just pushing her to her room. As they came to her door, they could smell delicious fragrance wafting out of it. All of them took a deep breath, inhaling all the different aromas, before they entered, and everywhere there were plates of different dishes. As Naruto helped Hinata into her bed, Tenten walked around, looking at all the different culinary delights, each with its own little placard describing what it was and when it would be served should they choose it.

"You came at a good time," Hinata giggled, noticing her friend's hand running nervously over her belly and her gaze flickering from dish to dish, "You can help us choose the food to serve at the reception." With a grateful smile, Tenten picked up a few forks that had been lying next to Hinata's bed on her side table and passed them out.

Each dish was a savory delight, some flaky, some juicy, and all delicious. After an intense debate, they'd decided on a few foods. To let the caterers know what they wanted, they decided to leave the placards of the things they wanted up and the rest down. Not knowing what to do with all the food in their room, Naruto, Hinata, and Tenten decided to go for a stroll in the hospital's zen garden, planted and cared for in an effort to mentally, as well as physically, nourish their patients back to health.

After they'd toured the garden's many winding paths that rose and fell gently on miniature hills, they decided to go back to the room in the hopes that all the food had been removed. They were delighted to see that it had, and in its place, a huge book of wedding cake choices lay on Hinata's bed. As Naruto picked it up, he staggered under its weight. "I think I'll hold this for a minute," he grunted, straining to hold the heavy book, "Tenten, do you mind?..."

"Of course not," Tenten said simply, giving him a small smile. She helped Hinata back into her bed, and when she had been settled, Tenten drew up two chairs for her and Naruto to sit in. Careful not to jar Hinata in any way, Naruto slowly lowered the heavy book onto her bed. As Hinata opened its pages, hundreds of possibilities faced her. Luckily, the caterers were clever enough to put all the different things into a kind of system. Shape of the cake, flavor, decorations, color, the figures on the top, and multiple other things. As she turned each page, marking things that she liked and that Naruto liked, she couldn't feel more happy.

Another hour or two later, she had picked out her dream wedding cake. It fit her and Naruto perfectly, and Tenten could only say, "'Ta, you've got taste." At this, she'd blushed, but firmly, she marked what she wanted and unmarked everything else, making it quite clear what she wanted.

As she set the book aside, she fell back into her pillows, heaving a contented sigh as she did. Naruto grasped her left hand, bandages no longer covering it. Except for a few spots on her side, upper arm, and neck, she was almost healed and expected to go home in a day or two. "Are you tired, my love?" he inquired, stroking her hand as he did so. She snuggled back into the pillows, murmuring, "A little, dearest one." Tenten, slightly embarrassed on intruding in such a private moment, stood, inclined her head in farewell, and left.

"Now look what we've done, we've scared off Tenten," Hinata sighed, pulling the hair back from where it fell in her eyes. The eyepatch was still on her left eye. When she'd asked Tsunade why she still had it on, she'd only said, "I don't know if you got any glass in your eye or not. In case there is, I want the eye to try and get rid of it naturally, and in order for it to do that, it must not work too hard. We've covered it so it can focus on cleaning itself out rather than trying to work on seeing, dealing with light, and other things getting into your eye."

A nurse came in with the tea that Tsunade had prescribed for her, and obediently, she'd drunk it, the drink being so powerful that before she'd taken a few sips, the glass fell from her numbed hands. Naruto, being used to this, had been ready for it and caught the cup before it had fallen more than a few inches, setting it on the side table. Hinata had slipped away, glad that she now could retreat to the world of sleep.

It was that night that the dreams came back.


	7. Chapter 7

1Hinata was hyperventilating in her sleep, more panicked in this dream because she'd hoped they'd gone, but it was not so. _Oh, why did tonight have to be the night that Naruto though I would be safe alone?_, she wondered. Here she stood, in the thick green grass lit by the moon in that clearing she dreaded. Only this time, when the moon waned and became new once more, she wasn't taken from behind. He appeared before her, down on one knee, not looking into her eyes like he always would before she woke.

She was puzzled, and the terror she felt diminished slightly. Hesitantly, she walked forward, the white silk nightdress she wore still as pure as snow. As she drew nearer, she heard him muttering something, and when she bent over, taking his face in her hands, the phrase, "...it's all my fault...it's all my fault..." escaped his covered lips.

As she tilted his head up to look into her pearly eyes, the midnight depths bored into hers, but they were sad and shifted away from her questioning gaze. "Why do you say that?" Hinata heard herself ask softly. He still would not look at her, but he didn't jerk his head away from her grasp. "Your cuts, your scars...they are MY fault," he murmured, slowly moving his hand to rest upon one of hers, keeping it where it lay, cradling his cheek.

Slowly, Hinata shook her head and she found herself kneeling on the grass in front of him. He could not avoid her eyes now. She saw those eyes looking deep into her, like he was seeing through to her very soul, and all her thoughts and feelings, doubts and joys, were laid bear in the reflection of his gaze as she saw herself there. She shook herself from her temporary hypnotism, starting to absent-mindedly stroke his hair, and spoke again.

"What happened to me was a total accident," she whispered, her tone gentle and reassuring, "it couldn't have possibly been you. I didn't see you there." He almost flinched at the words, avoiding her eyes again. When she followed his gaze, she found that he was looking at her scars. The nightdress she was wearing had only thin spaghetti straps, so most of the scars on her left arm, shoulder, neck, and face were clearly visible. He traced his finger through the delicate marks, following them like a pathway down her arm until his hand once more rested on hers.

"But it was my fault," he said, suddenly cupping her hand to his cheek with both of his hands, willing it to stay there, "I was so angry. You were so beautiful...but not in MY dress." She stared at him in confusion, withdrawing her hands from his face.

"Your dress?" she asked, a note of panic rising in her voice. She looked down at her white nightdress, but no. It wasn't white anymore. It was black. Black as midnight, black as his eyes. The terror she thought had left came roaring back. He looked at her with a pained expression in his eyes, and she could see him grimace under the face mask that he wore. "Well, that is the dress I love to see you in. It seems you only wear it in dreams."

She screamed as he reached toward her, a monster destroying her life because he wanted only one thing in his. Her.

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Tsunade was fast asleep in her bed, tangled in the sheets. She'd been drinking again and had just tottered into bed fully dressed without even bothering to kick off her shoes. _Which are killing me by the way_, she thought, half-awake. She was just sinking back into unconscious when the sudden jangle of the phone startled her awake, rolling out of bed in her confusion.

It kept ringing as she disentangled herself from the linen sheets and was just able to stagger over to the phone before it fell off the stand it sat on.

"'Lo, Tsunade speaking," she said lazily, still trying to rub the sleep from her squinted eyes, "Whassa matter–?"

She never got to finish her sentence. A panicked voice had suddenly buzzed from the other line, so loud and fast she had to hold the phone away from her ear and yell repeatedly into the receiver for the person to shut up and calm down until they could tell her rationally what was wrong. After a minute, with much heavy breathing on the other end in an effort to calm themselves, she asked, "Ready yet?"

Slowly, as if it took them great difficulty, the voice on the other end spoke. Tsunade realized it was one of the nurses from the hospital, and what she was hearing wasn't good at all. "Tsunade-sama, I apologize for waking you at such a rude hour– " a quick glance at the clock confirmed it was 2:17 in the morning, "–but there's something disturbingly wrong with one of the patients."

Tsunade listened carefully, her brow furrowing and her eyes growing wider with every second until she couldn't take anymore. "You did what?!" she shrieked into the phone, unable to control herself, "Without consulting me?! Do you know what you've just done?!"

Cursing and muttering angrily, she slammed the phone back down onto the receiver. Not caring about her ruffled clothes, she quickly left her home and made her way to the hospital nearby. As she stormed down the hallways, nurses and orderlies backed against the walls, not wishing to be in her path lest they be trampled.

When she finally reached the room that Hinata was in, she was met by a quivering nurse. She was quite new, one of the lowest in position when it came to the medical hierarchy. _So they sent me her to try and pacify me?_, she thought angrily as she tugged open the door, found Hinata's room empty, and cursed in many more colorful words that made the little nurse blush.

As she stomped towards the wing's front desk, she thought of all the things that she could say, but when she finally confronted the woman, Tsunade could tell that the nurse felt no remorse for what she'd done. As the nurse gazed pompously, almost condescendingly, at Tsunade, she felt a rage all her own and found that she'd slammed the middle-aged woman up against the wall in her fury.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" she hissed in a menacing whisper. The nurse showed fright, but there was still pride in her eyes as she responded, "I couldn't do anything else. I did what was right for her and now she'll be fine." Tsunade's teeth ground in her head when she heard those words, and so did the nurse, so angry was Tsunade. "You didn't do anything for her," she said, fighting back the want to scream at the nurse, "you only did what was right by you so you could save your precious position and not have to deal with Hinata." She released the nurse, stepping away from her, her fists clenched, the nails digging into her palms.

"I want you gone," she growled, pointing towards the little nurse who'd done nothing to stop her, "You two are exchanging positions. She's taking charge as head nurse in this wing and YOU, are nothing more lowly than a..." She let the sentence hang, the fiery words hanging in the air, stinging the newly demoted middle-aged nurse as she gazed at the barely 20-year-old underling who had just replaced her in the most powerful position you could hold at the hospital. With a curt nod, she walked away, trying to hold on to a last small piece of her dignity.

She passed Naruto on the way out of the wing, and with a hostile glare that the blonde returned with a confused expression, she flounced out.

By now it was almost 7:00 a.m., and Naruto was coming to take Hinata home after a last round of tests. When he found Tsunade fuming (which isn't even the word for what he saw) next to the wing's front desk, he was confused even more.

"Hey, Tsunade! What's got you pissed? I'm excited! I get to take 'Ta home today!"

The childish happiness that so illuminated his face was too much for Tsunade to bear. She swept him up into a tight hug that drove the air from his lungs. "Tsunade--I--can't--breathe!" he gasped, struggling to get out of her grasp. She let him down, and as she led him to Hinata's room, he kept asking, "What's wrong?" and "Why the long face?"

His questions were answered when Tsunade swung open the door and an empty room greeted him.

"She had the nightmare again," she said bitterly walking into the desolate room, now empty of its once happy occupant, "according to that nurse over there– " she pointed to the new head nurse who was still in shock over being promoted, "–who called me at about two in the morning to tell me what happened, Hinata woke up screaming and she couldn't stop."

Naruto was frozen. The words were penetrating, burning themselves into his brain. _Hinata...woke up screaming?_, he thought dimly, pretending to listen to Tsunade, _it's the same as back then, but she could stop as soon as she awake._ Tsunade noticed he'd spaced out and gently shook his shoulder. Naruto snapped out of it and turned his now sad face to Tsunade, "There's more?" She nodded, sitting down on the bed. "You'll want to sit down for this."

Reluctantly, he sat, but only just on the edge of the covers. Tsunade took a deep breath, and continued. "As I said, Hinata woke up screaming and couldn't stop. The nurses tried everything to try and calm her down, but they had to sedate her." At this, Naruto clutched at the bed covers, holding them tightly in his hands, like he could stop the nurses from harming Hinata. As Tsunade saw his protective gesture, she did something that surprised Naruto to no end.

A tear slid down her cheek.

"Oh, Naruto, it's so much worse than that." Tsunade's normally steady voice held a uncharacteristic tremor, and Naruto's initial fear grew ten fold. He let go of the sheets, with great difficulty, and instead clutched at Tsunade's sleeves. "Where is she? Is she ok? Can I take her home?"

With a sad shake of her head, she answered his questions. "That idiot of a head nurse, she's the one you saw walking out when you came in, she got big head because of all her authority. Instead of doing what any normal medical professional would've done, she did something, that you always have to run by me before you do it, without telling me."

Naruto couldn't take the suspense anymore. "Tsunade! Just tell me where she is!" he almost shrieked, half mad with terror.

She looked at him...and another tear slid down her cheek. "Naruto, she's been sent to the psyche ward. You can't take her home until they deem her mentally sound, and with these constant nightmares, that won't be anytime soon. Naruto...she's about to go through hell."


	8. Chapter 8

1_I can't move._

Hinata struggled, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't unwrap her arms from around her body. She struggled to sit up, her body aching all over. From what, she didn't know.

As her muscles worked to bring her upright, she cracked open her eyes for the first time.

It was pitch dark.

She looked around in a panic. _Did I go blind! How come I can't see anything! Why am I not in my room!_

"NARUTO!"

Silence.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!"

More silence.

She'd almost given up hope and succumbed to fear and depression when she spotted what seemed like a slit of light glowing gradually brighter and brighter, and what was better, she heard footsteps.

As she crawled on her knees and elbows over to the slit, her hopes rose, and as she reached the now visible door, she was relieved to find that the bright light had stopped outside of it. As a little window she had not noticed opened in the door and the light streamed in, her eyes squinted up towards the face of a woman peering back. The unfriendly expression across it, however, caused her to lose confidence and stutter as she began to speak.

"H-h-hello, um, um, w-where am I? I...I was s-sup-supposed to b-be r-r-released. I-I was supposed to go home!"

Her voice gained strength with her confused statement, and she looked into the woman's eyes. "Please, tell me where I am. Where's Naruto? Where's Tsunade-sama? Why am I here?"

Her pleading tone caused the lady's hardened face to soften just a little. "You are in Room 141 in the Extreme Mental Cases Wing of the psyche ward. Naruto and Tsunade have made many attempts, physically and legally, to get in, but all their efforts have been detained according to the Imperturbable Rules. You are here because you woke up screaming and refused to stop until you were sedated. The head nurse, who has since been demoted for her actions by Tsunade, signed you over to this ward. I am sorry, but I've told you more than you should know. I must go now."

The woman, despite Hinata's pleas to stay or leave the lamp for light and comfort, slid the window shut and walked away, her footsteps echoing down the passage. As Hinata lay down next to the bottom of the door, she realized something. Her room was almost frozen, but the air blowing against her back from under the door was warm, almost hot! She turned over as fast as she could. Her face and front started to warm up a little, but it did little good. She was still cold as ice.

Hinata figured that she'd probably die of hypothermia soon, so she settled down to wait for the end. _Naruto and Tsunade can't rescue me, so I might as well die here so they can sue the psyche ward or whatever_, she thought pessimistically.

As Hinata closed her eyes in finality, the last sliver of moon disappeared. It was new, and the night felt a foreboding presence reawaken and begin to move towards the village of Konoha.

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Naruto paced back and forth in the bedroom that he and Hinata shared, at least, they had shared. Tsunade leaned on the wall next to the door, her eyes closed and her brow furrowed in concentration. Finally, her silence was too much for Naruto.

"Why the hell can't we just go in once?" Naruto ranted, his face a picture of wrath, "Why can't we visit her? She's not gonna hurt anyone!"

Tsunade sighed. She'd gone over this so many times with Naruto, the nurses of the psyche ward, but especially herself. Why had she made the restriction on the psyche wing so strict? Even the hokage of Konoha should be able to override them, but for some reason, she'd even taken that power away. The psyche ward was untouchable, at least, for the moment.

"I've said this time and again Naruto. There's. Nothing. We. Can. Do."

She emphasized each word, trying to drive them home and make them stick in Naruto's mind. She muttered these words every once in a while to herself, especially in front of Naruto, but with this knowledge she was working on getting her control back. She was looking over the law, looking for any kink, any loophole, in its supposedly iron wording.

Tsunade sighed, standing up from the bed and going over to Naruto, putting her hand on his shoulder. "All we can do is wait Naruto, and hope. Hope that she's alright and hope that she'll get through the medical exams."

Naruto walked away from Tsunade, sitting on the window seat Hinata loved to sit on. He stared out, resting his head on his arms like Hinata did.

"I just hope they're treating her right, you know?"

"So do I, Naruto. So do I."

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Hinata shivered, turning herself over and over trying to warm herself by the crack at the bottom of the door, but it was useless. She finally gave up, inching herself like a worm to the middle of the room and collapsing. She began to think, and her thoughts had progressed from pessimistic to rock-bottom depressed.

_Naruto and Tsunade will never be able to prove that I died because they mistreated me,_ she despaired, _They'll probably cover it up, like all major scandals do. How many other people have died in here? Have people died in this same room? On this same floor? Same spot?_

Tears fell silently down her cheeks, forming invisible trails of sorrow down her face. _I'm a mess. They'll know and they won't be able to prove a thing. Even if I survive long enough to even see a psychiatrist or whatever, I might not even pass any of the stupid tests. I bet they're all set up to see me fail and stay in here where I can't get out. Can't get out to see the sun, my friends, not even Naruto._

She curled up, even more miserable that before. Her heart rate slowed, her temperature went down. Her body was weakening.

And then He appeared.

He was suddenly there, pulling her up and cradling Hinata to his chest, warming her with his inner fire, the fire that burned at the people that were doing this to her. Hinata thought she was hallucinating, but she couldn't imagine that warmth, the chafing of his hands on her legs to bring life back to them, the ability of her arms to move again as he removed the straight jacket. It was dark, she couldn't see.

But then she saw them. Twin pools of blackness that were somehow darker than the room with no windows. And she knew who they belonged to.

She opened her mouth to scream, but she knew that even as she thought it, as she went through the motions to do so, that she wouldn't be able to do it. Her body was weak as was her voice. That, and why would she do this to her savior? He had come here of his own wishing, somehow getting inside, and he was HELPING her. She couldn't do this to him. She settled for edging as far away from him as was possible.

"What do you want?" she asked in a trembling voice, barely above a whisper.

He didn't answer, and she thought that he wasn't going to. When he finally spoke, he startled her despite the fact that his voice was low and soft, hardly sharp, and she realized he'd been thinking over his reply.

"I want...to help you."

She turned his words over in her mind, trying to find some reason behind them, and she decided to challenge them.

"Is it because you hurt me?"

She touched the scars, half on purpose and subconsciously. She somehow knew he could see in this blackness, and she felt the air wince, like it was a part of him.

"Yes...and no."

"Then why?"

Hinata thought it would take him a while to respond, but what he did next bewildered her. His voice was eager, as if trying to prove something to her.

"Yes I want to help you because hurting you was MY fault, all my fault." His voice broke, but he went on stronger than ever. "But I also want to help you because I lo-like you." She didn't detect the switch of wording, she was so tired and sick. "You don't realize how kind you are, how beautiful you are. I swear the scars make you MORE beautiful. Your laughter is like a stream, happy to run its course, and if something happens to block your path, you run happily around it, finding a way to deal with the obstacle."

She heard him shuffling over to her and she stood up in fright, backing herself up against the wall. She felt him stop in front of her, felt him take her hands carefully in his soft gloved ones, and realized that he was on his knees. He was as good as BEGGING her to forgive him.

"I've done wrong in the past. The dreams, the visions, the mirrors-" he choked and continued. "But I can change. Just forgive me, please. All I ask is forgiveness. That, and the chance to help you get out of here safely. Make them realize that your mind is as sound as before I came into your life."

For some reason, Hinata couldn't bear the begging. Her heart reacted in a startling way, jumping about at his words, his touch. Nothing like Naruto. The twin pools of pure night looked at her, and she could have sworn that there was a hint of beseeching in each midnight depth.

She said nothing, just bent down, releasing his hands, and clutched his head to her bosom. His hands held the raggedy clothes at her sides, clenched in remorse and happiness at the same time. Hinata felt one tear fall from his eye, felt it splash onto her foot. At first, it burned, but after a while, her skin grew used to it, and the tear became nothing more than a cooling, soothing balm to her pain as it went its course to the floor.

Hinata fell asleep in his arms that night.

Sorry to all my fans. -"

I've been trying to deal w/ stupid friends, school, and life in general. That, and I was blanking on what I would write. I'm glad I got over the writer's block and hope you enjoyed this new chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

1The nurse came to the door, number 191. She peeked in the little wooden door, seeing Hinata lying motionless in the middle of the freezing room. The nurse sighed. Hinata was slowly becoming like the rest of the patients, cold and lifeless.

She rapped lightly on the door to announce her entrance and slowly opened the door so Hinata wouldn't start with fright. Sudden moves were not recommended in the psyche ward. She kept her voice gentle as she left her lantern by the door and brought in the tray bearing Hinata's meager meal and a small cup of pills she was to take for her treatment.

"Hinata dear, it's me, Bella. I'm here with your lunch. Are you hungry?"

Hinata, with great effort, pushed her head up from the floor and turned to look at her. Hinata's eyes were dull and the skin under her eyes was blackened with lack of sleep. _And sanity, poor thing_, Bella thought. Hinata's clothes were rumpled and stained in some places. Her skin was pasty and sallow from lack of sunlight and care, the scars standing out on her pale skin which was almost as pale as a vampire's.

Bella shook her head at her state, slowly so as to not startle Hinata.

"Come here Hinata, come have some food."

Hinata crawled over slowly, apprehensively, but over the last couple days (Bella talked to Hinata even though she didn't think Hinata could understand her) Hinata had come to trust Bella. It was like a relationship between a wild animal and a stranger. Feed it, be nice to it, talk softly to it, don't startle it, and eventually, the wild animal will come around to liking you. That's how Bella viewed Hinata, since Hinata hadn't spoken a word since she had first arrived and called for her friends and begged for light.

Bella watched as Hinata toyed with the food, and sighed.

"Here Hinata, let me help you."

Bella sorted through the food, finding bits that she knew Hinata would like from their short time together and let Hinata choose some out of the pile herself. Bella cleared away the unwanted bits while Hinata nibbled on the parts she did like. When Hinata pushed what she didn't want to eat away and turned to lie back down on the floor, Bella carefully, softly, laid a hand on one of Hinata's.

Hinata slowly turned to look at her hand, laid gently over hers, so warm. Bella had almost flinched at how cold Hinata's hand had been, but then again, Bella had been shivering the entire time she had been in the room. Hinata looked to be used to the cold, and while she gazed unseeing at Bella's hand, her white eyes seemed to turn reluctantly to look into Bella's green ones. Bella nearly recoiled at the pale white orbs; they were glassy and dull, but also dead. Bella struggled to speak through the soulless eyes.

"You forgot your pills Hinata dear."

She handed the glass of water and little plastic cup of pills over to Hinata, who took them, swallowed the entire lot and didn't bother with the water. She lay back down and went back to being limp and lifeless. Bella's heart went out to her, but she knew that if she did anything to help the poor soul, she would be fired and blacklisted from any medical profession.

Or worse, killed for what she knew.

Bella slipped out of the room, taking care not to bang the door, closing it carefully and locking it after her. She picked up the lantern and walked down the hall, contemplating requesting a transfer. She couldn't take much more of 'helping' patients in the psyche ward if people like Hinata kept showing up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata waited until she heard Bella's footsteps fade into the distance and the door at the end of the hall close before she spit out the pills that she'd slipped under her tongue and washed out her mouth with the glass Bella had left behind. The mysterious stranger, who preferred to be called Night, dropped from the ceiling, where he had been hiding, next to Hinata in the darkness, startling her and making her gasp while it made Night chuckle with amusement.

"I will never get used to you doing that," Hinata said, embarrassed, turning her face away from him and casting her eyes down and away from Night, whose eyes she could see out of the corner of hers, were looking at her, twin pools of midnight darker than the surrounding blackness.

"Well, I'm still shocked that you're such a good actress, Hinata, if that's any consolation. The black makeup under the eyes was a nice touch. Glad some of the pills go black and crumble if you don't take them after a while."

His voice, low, soft, deep, and sensual made Hinata flush bright red, her eyes still downcast. She was thankful he couldn't see her in the dark. Unfortunately for her, Night hadn't told Hinata he could.

Over the last few days Hinata had been having some weird feelings whenever Night was around and she knew he was interested from what he'd said and done before and from what he'd been doing in the days that he'd stayed with her. He said he couldn't leave now that he'd come, and that disturbed and confused her. She'd woken up more than once in his arms (only to keep herself from dying of hypothermia of course) and he would be stroking her hair and singing a slightly familiar lullaby, but he added his own counter melodies and harmonies that would make the song (which she was dead sure she knew) more beautiful and worth listening to.

Once, he had sung it so well, so heart-breakingly, that Hinata, who had woken up, began to cry silently at its beauty and the feelings and memories it stirred. Night had cut off the note he'd been holding, surprised she was awake and concerned by her tears.

Hinata missed Naruto, Tenten, Tsunade-sama, and everyone she held dear. She missed the sun, the wind, the grass under her feet, the ability to run. She'd let it all out in choked, heartbroken sobs. Night had kissed away her tears that night, and she didn't care. She was grateful Night was there to help her and keep her warm.

Hinata was confused by the fact that Night couldn't leave. She didn't ask and he didn't offer an explanation. When she offered him food, he politely declined, but he did take the pills that she spit out and swallowed them so the nurse, Bella, would not find them and know that Hinata wasn't taking her medicine. Hinata had asked about that one, and he only shrugged his shoulders and said, "My body isn't affected by them." She hadn't asked further. Every time a lantern passed by and Hinata had stolen a glance to try and see Night's face, he always had the scarf she had first seen him in covering everything but his eyes and his hair. This slightly frustrated her.

But the first time he told her that the moon had rose, she couldn't stop a question from bursting out of her mouth.

"How can you tell the moon has rose when we can't even tell whether or not it's day or night in here? There are no windows or clocks!"

He'd sounded uncomfortable in the darkness, like he hadn't meant it to slip and that he really didn't want to share the secret.

"Please," Hinata said quietly, her eyes opening and closing, seeing no difference in the blackness except for the fact that when she closed her eyes she couldn't see the twin pools of midnight staring at her, contemplative. She jumped slightly when he spoke and realized he was right next to her ear, breathing his words into his ear like it was a secret.

"The moon. The moon is my taskmaster, my bane, my lover, my life. I will feel a sliver if it is revealed. The light is what moves me, sets my–" he chuckled, "blood to boil, stirs my innermost demons and also battle them away. I am a conflicted monster controlled by a monthly cycle that I cannot fight."

Hinata was shivering and she didn't think it was from the cold, but Night seemed to know it was probably a combination of the two, because she felt his arms snake around her waist and the cloak that he constantly wore gather around the two of them, enclosing them in warmth.

Hinata knew that without Night, she would be dead by now, from cold, near-starvation, drug overdoses, or suicide attempts. She knew it was wrong that she relied so much on Night, knew that the feelings she felt were similar to what she felt for Naruto but they were different at the same time, but the similarities were scary.

_Could I be falling for another guy other than Naruto?_ Hinata questioned herself, leaning her head against Night's broad chest subconsciously, not knowing that in the darkness, Night was smiling. _I've never seen his face, only touched his face, felt his lips on my cheeks. He keeps me warm, but I can't help but feel the muscles that he has. Naruto is wiry and and has muscle, but Night's are...stronger._ She shuddered and Night clutched her closer, making it look like he thought she was still cold in an effort to disguise the fact that he was doing it on purpose. Hinata didn't notice.

It wasn't until Hinata's head nearly connected with the bare concrete of the floor that she noticed Night was gone.

"Night?" she whispered, already knowing he had hidden himself in the ceiling beams.

His words came at her in a quick, low whisper from over her head. "They are coming and there are more than one. It's not food. It's too soon. I think it might be one of the exams on your sanity. Be careful. Only ask the direct questions. If they use fancy language, don't answer. They'll only assume you're not smart enough to understand, not insane."

Just as he finished, Hinata heard the door open at the end of the hall and the murmur of voices. As she settled herself into the same position Bella had found her in, she heard Night whisper her name.

"Hinata."

"Night?"

"I wish you all the luck in the world."

"Thank you," Hinata whispered back, warmth and happiness in her voice. As she settled with her cheek against the cold concrete, she chided herself silently. While she had leaned against Night's chest, she hadn't heard his heartbeat. She must've been leaning against the wrong spot.


	10. Chapter 10

1The concrete was cold and pressed against Hinata's cheek as she waited for the footsteps to stop in front of her door. "Room 191. Solitary confinement." She heard the rustle of papers being shifted around. "Patient number 153905. Hyuga, Hinata. Admitted to the hospital for multiple lacerations to her left side that resulted in scarring all along her body. Was ready to be released when she woke up screaming and couldn't stop. Was sedated and admitted to the psyche ward without consulting the honorable Hokage Tsunade. Good work boys. Any way to get around that bitch."

Hinata shivered as she heard her brief medical history recited outside her door, but to hear that she had been admitted on purpose so that somebody could undermine Tsunade and take satisfaction from it made her angry. As they started to laugh, the silence of the psyche ward disturbed by their strange happiness, she trembled, her hands balling into fists and her muscles tightening to the point where they would start cramping in the cold. She longed to jump up and knock down the door, to crush their heads in and watch as their blood ran down the walls.

She was so startled by her reaction, she almost didn't notice that Night had suddenly dropped down next to her and had her cradled in his arms, pulling her in protectively and rocking her as she cried angry tears and beat her fists against him chest with rage. Night didn't even flinch from the blows, taking them all in silence and finally holding her tight so that she couldn't move anymore.

As the laughter began to die down, Night wiped away her tears with his scarf, catching the drops that stayed in her eyes with his finger and, without Hinata knowing, tasting and savoring them in darkness.

"You okay?" he whispered, clutching her to his chest, keeping her firmly there until she stopped struggling and her breathing began to slow. Her breaths, although ragged, began to steady, but not before she felt herself forcefully being laid down in her former position and Night had re-assumed his in the beams.

"Your red-rimmed eyes and ragged breathing will convince them you're not in your right mind until you get to the doctor. You'll be calm by the time they close the door, just don't say anything until you're sure that they're gone. I know you'll get out of here soon."

His whispered words were almost lost in the turn of the key in the lock and the twist of the single knob located in the hall, but she heard them and kept up her ragged breathing on purpose. As the shaft of light fell across her, she refused to move from her position, even when they nudged her in the ribs with their foot to see if she'd move. She looked up to try and see her assailant, but the lantern he held blinded her and made her squint.

"She's a mess all right," a gruff voice said, a chuckle in his voice, "and we can all blame this on Tsunade. This girl'll be right crazy if she ever gets out of this hell hole. Tsunade'll be screwed, especially since she knows this 'un." As the rumble of the men's laughter filled the oppresive air, Hinata thought she heard a hiss of anger from Night above, but the men didn't break in their humor and she knew they hadn't noticed.

"Get her up," another growled, this one more aggressive and the one who had been speaking earlier outside the door. Hinata almost tightened her muscles again, preparing to spring for his throat, but she heard a croon that calmed her into submission. She knew this was Night. He'd used it against her before.

She wanted to resent him for it, but his croon continued even after the men hauled her up and out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She heard it all the way down the hall, the hall she was seeing for the first time. It only faded when she was dragged out of the ward and the door was shut behind her, the window view in its wooden body covered over with a black veil.

Tsunade went over the scroll that contained the law that barred her medical access to the psyche ward. The scroll was at least two feet in length, the writing in it small and cramped. She didn't write the law; her memory was foggy in that area of time, but she knew that much. Somebody had kept giving her sake, and then they'd brought the law, saying it was some unimportant piece of legislation that only required her signature and nothing of her concern. She'd signed it and accepted more sake, finally passing out a while later.

_Who gave me this scroll?_, she thought, her brow creasing with the effort of remembering through the faded alcohol haze. She glanced for what seemed like the hundredth time at her name scrawled at the bottom, the signature wobbly and misshapen. How could anybody have actually have accepted it as hers?

She knew She had signed it, but to look at it from a different point of view, it looked like it had been forged. She shook her head and started to read the top of the law again, hoping to find some loophole or mistake in the wording. She hoped it wasn't as iron as she'd assumed it had been.

Miles away in a quiet apartment, Naruto perched on the edge of the window seat. He'd never gotten used to the emptiness. It disturbed him every time he walked in. The absence of the sounds and smells of cooking, Hinata's soft voice calling him barely above a whisper when he came home, her smile as she walked into his arms. His nails dug into his leg with the pain, jolting him out of his miserable reminiscence.

"She wouldn't want me to sit here and be miserable," he said, talking to himself in an effort to fill the oppressive silence. "Maybe I'll go out for a walk and think about ways to get her out of there." He walked out, not even bothering to look twice at the kitchen that was going dusty with unuse.

He'd been taking his meals at Ichiraku's. He couldn't bring himself to step foot into the domain which he still deemed Hers to make his own. _They can make it better anyway,_ he thought glumly, continuing down the stairs that led to their upstairs apartment.

He ended up walking to all of their old special spots. The top of the hokage monument where he'd proposed to her under the stars on the full moon, the trees surrounding them draped with sparkling white silk that he'd placed there earlier which glistened silver in the moonlight and made the moment all the more beautiful.

Naruto's lip trembled a moment and a tear threatened to spill onto his cheek, but he bit his tongue and moved on, leaving the memory behind as fast as he could.

He passed by a local restaurant that he'd taken Hinata to on their first official date. Rosey's, her favorite. He remembered how red in the face she had been. He hadn't known about her crush until recently, had been so ecstatic at the news that he'd asked her out moments after finding out. He'd been so eager that she'd been embarrassed that she couldn't be louder and more expressive, but he'd said he loved her blush and that had made her flush all the deeper.

He laughed as he left it behind.

Naruto stopped in front of the ninja academy they'd both attended when they were younger. He hadn't realized it then, but many times he could recall looking around and Hinata looking away hurriedly. He'd never noticed; he'd been so involved in trying to find out where Sakura was sitting so he could sit next to her or at least nearby. He remembered her disappointed face on the day they'd been separated into teams, but he'd been so happy with being put with Sakura and so pissed that he'd gotten stuck with Sasuke at the same time, that he just assumed that it was because she got stuck with the dog and bug boys.

He smiled at his childish stupidity and strolled along with his hands in his black and orange jumpsuit's pockets, looking up as the sun faded over the horizon to watch as the first stars appeared in the darkening sky.

Tsunade's eyes grew wide and she knocked over the glass of water that was sitting next to her. She hurriedly jerked away the scroll from the spreading puddle growing across her desk and then refocused on the sentences she had just read, rereading them over and over to make sure she had gotten them right.

Whoever had tricked her into signing the scroll certainly hadn't anticipated the flaw in the iron wording that Tsunade had just found. Nobody would have noticed it, not even the original writer. Nobody, except Night.


	11. Chapter 11

1She was shoved down the corridor roughly, but she didn't react. She stumbled unseeingly along. That was the part she was supposed to play, wasn't it? She pretended she wasn't still alive inside. She pretended that she was nothing, that she'd lost her mind, that she was gone, dead. She guessed it was working. They hadn't paid much more attention to her other than to keep her moving.

She wondered what Night was doing. She wondered if she was okay, but as soon as she thought it, she scolded herself inwardly. _Course he can take care of himself_, she thought, nearly tripping but just barely catching herself on the cement wall beside her. _He's the one that's been taking care of me these past few days, weeks even. He's fine. He doesn't need me._

But as soon as she thought these words, she fell to the floor and they started yelling at her to get up and keep moving. But she couldn't, so one of them picked her up by the arm and half-dragged, half-walked her the rest of the way. Her eyes were glazed over and staring. _He DOESN'T need me. What's going to happen when I'm released? There's no way that they can't. I'm completely sane and I'll prove it. But is he going to leave me?_

She knew it was absurd to think these thoughts, but she'd grown so attached to him it was almost impossible to imagine herself without him hiding in the rafters nearby. He'd kept her warm, saved her from God knows what was in the those pills, sang her songs, talked to her. Without him, she'd have been insane or dead weeks ago. What was she going to do? She didn't have a chance to figure that out.

She was shoved roughly through a door that she had been to busy thinking to notice. As the door shut behind her, a medic ninja with small, circled glasses was looking at her with a bored expression on his face while she heard the mean position themselves outside the door, guarding it. Hinata's shyness instantly came back to her. It didn't matter that she'd survived the psyche ward, she was still Hinata. As she sat in the metallic chair across the table from the medic, he began to speak to her in a quick, precise voice that although sounded professional nonetheless betrayed his boredom.

"Hello," he looked at a file in front of him. "Hinata. I'm Dr. Satori. How are you doing today?" Before she could answer, he moved on. No answers were obviously routine for him.

"Well, it says here that you were admitted without the Hokage's consent. Quite against the rules. The head nurse who did it was punished." She looked at the file upside-down as he made small notes on a pad he had lying beside it.

"You were admitted because you couldn't stop screaming. Feeling any better?" She opened her mouth to speak but he plowed on.

"Have you had any new problems? Is there anything that you need? Are you–" But Hinata's temper had hit the boiling point by now, and she stood up and slammed her hands down onto the table and stared with unsuppressed rage into the surprised doctor's eyes. The things she'd been meaning to say came out in a rush, tinged with a hint of frustration.

"How am I doing today? I'm trying to survive in a living _hell_, that's how I'm doing. That stupid nurse got what she damn well deserved. I was getting married in two weeks! I'm feeling just fine. I'm only alive because–" she hesitated an instant before plowing on, "–I kept thinking about my friends and my fiancé and I kept moving in that bone-chill room. Yes I've got new problems. I'm malnourished. They're trying to drug me every meal. There's no light. I've only been allowed a bath every 2 or 3 days." She didn't include how she knew this. It would mean revealing Night. "What I NEED is to get out of here because I'm completely sane. I don't even know why that head nurse admitted me here!"

Hinata finally thumped back into her seat, her arms folded and her expression hard. She stared down the doctor who was staring at her, and then he shuffled a few of the papers in the file and made a small note. He took a deep breath, took his glasses off, and then looked at her with a totally serious look on his face.

"You are Hyuga Hinata?"

"Yes."

"You can and will answer every question that I ask in a right state of mind?"

"Yes."

He sighed and put his glasses back on. Hinata paused a moment before speaking.

"I was put in here as part of a conspiracy."

He looked up sharply, his expression suspicious. Hinata knew what he was thinking. He was wondering if she truly was sane or not. She pressed on before he could dismiss her.

"Haven't you wondered before now? All the drugs, the mediocre care, the reluctance of anyone here to talk about what's going on, the door guarded when interviews like this are conducted. Didn't you guess something was up? I've been in a below freezing room, fed inadequately, given no light, no blanket. I'm just lucky I had a compassionate nurse. She helped me. She's part of the reason I'm still around today."

She took a deep breath and continued.

"Anyway, before they came to get me," she gestured at the door, "they were talking. They talked about my medical history, but then it switched to about how I was admitted without the Hokage's consent and they started calling Tsunade a bitch and saying that they can blame me being crazy on her because she knows me and they started laughing." Hinata's fists clenched and tears welled in her eyes, but she bit them back. She looked up, her face resolute. "I'm not crazy, and I want to go back home."

He looked at her, digesting what she'd just said. He stood up and began pacing. Then he began firing more questions at her.

"Have you been able to sleep normally?"

"Yes."

"Then what are those dark circles under your eyes?"

"Pill dust. Some of them turn black and crumble and I used it to throw them off."

She wiped some of it off, showing him. His eyes widened slightly, but he betrayed no other emotion. He kept pacing.

"Have you been able to maintain normal strength?"

"Kinda. It's hard when I'm in a tight space."

He nodded. It seemed what he was hearing right then was exactly what he expected.

"How long have you been able to function normally?"

Hinata was confused and he saw he expression.

"I mean, how long has your body been able to act normal?"

Hinata shrugged. "The first night was hell, but I've been okay the whole time."

Dr. Satori muttered under his breath, "Amazing," and shook his head.

"Why are you asking me all these questions?" Hinata asked him. He didn't break his stride or look at her, but he answered her.

"You're the first."

"The first of what?"

He stopped pacing and looked at her with a look of intense concern.

"You're the first person to have survived this long with their sanity."

--

Tsunade flew like lightning over to Naruto's house. She banged on his door for about 30 seconds until she couldn't wait any longer and just bust down the door. She searched every room, but Naruto wasn't anywhere to be seen. She noticed the dusty kitchen and decided that maybe he'd gone out. She streaked out the door, whipping out a seal which she put on the broken door, keeping Naruto's home safe until he returned.

She barely touched the rooftops as she skimmed over them, the law tucked tightly into a sling across her back. She looked from left to right, the streets empty of any significant blot of orange as she blazed past. She'd almost given up when she decided that making a pass at the abandoned Uchiha compound was probably a slim chance but she couldn't leave any place unchecked. She'd almost gone completely past it when she saw an orange jumpsuit lying next to the pond in the training ground, although she saw no one.

She landed lightly on a post pocked with the marks of hundreds of sharingan and kunai. She looked around, wondering where Naruto could be, when a sudden splash and a fresh intake of air made her turn around. Naruto had just surfaced, his face turned towards the moon, the water droplets he was brushing out of his slightly long hair looking like pearls of moonfire as they fell back into the pond. His eyes were closed in ecstasy and he had an exultant smile on his face, but what interested Tsunade most despite herself, was Naruto's physique.

_I can see why Hinata likes him so much, if not for the personality_, she thought ruefully, gazing at him, waiting for him to notice her. He was wearing a skintight black tanktop, and although the water was to his waist, she was sure that when he stepped out he'd be wearing something just as good. His arms were well formed, not overdone. His chest was well-sculpted, his abs well defined in the waning half-moon light. As he stepped out of the water, she saw his just as sculpted legs and the black boxers he had worn to match the tanktop.

By now, Tsunade decided that her admiring Naruto was kinda creepy and very much less important than what she had just found, so she turned her face to the moon as Naruto bent over to retrieve his jumpsuit and coughed to let him know that she was there.

"Ahem."

The next thing she heard was a loud splash, and as she looked down in surprise, she saw Naruto in the shallows splayed backwards with his jumpsuit floating next to him. Apparently, he was so busy being happy for the first time in a while, that when she had coughed and alerted him to her presence, that he'd jumped and accidently fallen backwards into the pond, taking his only dry clothes with him. He was splayed out in the water and he looked at her from under his dripping hair accusingly.

"Come ON, Tsunade. What's the big deal? You just about killed me and now I've got nothing dry to wear." He stood up, the water up to his ankles now, but then he remembered that he wasn't quite decent and he tried to cover himself with his sopping wet jumpsuit.

"Don't bother," Tsunade said, motioning towards the suit and rolling her eyes. "It's not like I didn't get a chance to see it already. Come on. We'll go inside and dry you and your clothes off. I'm sure that the compound isn't that bad." Naruto gave a glance at the building that she was indicating, and Tsunade detected a hint of sadness, grief, and hurt as he looked, but when he looked back, he'd covered it up.

"Fine Tsunade, we'll go in, but you OWE me an explanation," Naruto shot back, rolling his eyes just as well. He rolled up his jumpsuit and walked over to the building. Tsunade noticed that he wasn't wearing any shoes. "Why are you barefoot?" she asked, slightly sarcastic but mostly curious.

"I know there's nothing harmful here. I trust this place," he replied, his voice going soft and Tsunade barely caught the hint of regret that colored his softened voice. She did, however, hear the absolute trust in his tone and the truth of his words, and as he slid aside the door and walked in, she thought, _Naruto finds solace in this place. Amazing. This place is so much like __**Him**__. I'd find this place very repulsive if __**He**__ had betrayed me. I guess I never will understand Naruto and Sasuke's friendship._

"Tsunade, are you coming? I already have some coals going!"

Tsunade shook herself out of her temporary reverie, and went inside, sliding the door shut.


End file.
